The Euro at 20: Successes, Problems, Progress and Threats

Indgående analyse 30-01-2019

The euro project has had a difficult second decade but it is worth remembering its successes. The ECB has successfully achieved its primary goal of price stability and the common currency is popular among the euro area’s citizens. This popularity has made the euro more resilient than many people thought possible twenty years ago. A significant number of improvements have been made to the architecture of EMU, have been implemented in the past decade but serious problems remain, relating to fiscal capacity, sovereign default and financial stability. To keep the euro together, Europe’s politicians need to make the euro area less crisis-prone and also an easier place to be during the inevitable cyclical downturns that will happen in the future. The economics profession has provided many plans for future improvements. It is up to Europe’s politicians to implement them. This document was provided by Policy Department A at the request of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.